Biologically contaminated needles present potential health risks to persons who come into contact with them, including the risk of exposure to HIV and hepatitis viruses. Accidental needle punctures and possible contamination of open wounds by exposed portions of used sharp objects such as syringe needles, catheters, and I.V. lines, present significant hazards to health care workers until they are safely disposed.
While needles generally include a protective cap (cannula) that is removed prior to use, the caps are generally fabricated of soft plastic and are of a small diameter. The health care worker may easily suffer an accidental needle puncture by missing the cannula opening with the needle. Reinsertion of the contaminated needle into the cannula may also result in the sharp needle penetrating the thin cannula wall and exposure of a health care Worker to the contaminated needle tip.
For these reasons, health and safety regulations generally forbid recapping of needles prior to their disposal because of the high incidence of injury and the possibility of contraction of infectious disease which may result from an attempt to replace the canula. OSHA Instruction 2-2.44A, dated Aug. 15, 1989, Office of Health Compliance Assistance states: "Needles shall not be recapped, purposely bent, or broken by hand, removed from disposal syringes, or otherwise manipulated by hand."
Special disposal containers have been developed for disposing of contaminated needles and other sharp items. Generally, these large containers are intended for repeated use and are placed near the site of use, for example on a shelf in an operating room, or in a hospital room. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,844) Immediately after use, the sharp object, e.g. needle, remains unprotected until the contaminated needle is deposited in the container. Routine patient care as well as emergencies increase the risk of contact with an unprotected contaminated sharp object prior to its proper disposal.
Numerous devices have attempted to provide a safe and efficient means for protecting contaminated needles after use and prior to disposal. Most are complex, expensive, and inconvenient to use. Some include specially designed syringes and needle caps, but this requires that every needle come equipped with a special design; for example, hypodermic needles, I.V. needles, catheters, and the like. Some devices require precise fitting to the needle, and are limited to one specific size or type or design of needle.
One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,569 where an apparatus is designed to protect the tips of contaminated needles. Blocks of a flexible material are used which can be penetrated by the tip of a needle. This device does not protect the entire needle and does not protect needles which may be inserted into the flexible material at an angle or which are long enough to protrude from the side of the block. For example, when a needle is inserted into rubber or other flexible material, the path of the needle through the flexible materials is generally not straight, but curved, generally in the direction away from the bevel of the needle. Even if the flexible blocks were large enough to cover the entire needle, the curved path of an inserted needle or insertion at an angle could result in the needle piercing a side wall of the flexible block, exposing health care workers to undesirable risk of harm.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,923 a device is provided where a needle can be inserted into a disposal container and then contacted with one or more chemical agents to form a reaction product which immobilizes and encapsulates the contaminated object for disposal. The protection achieved by this device is not instantaneous, but requires time for the necessary chemical reactions to take place. This device is also complicated to use because it requires proper temperature and adequate mixing for activating the necessary chemical reactions.
Thus, there is a need for a simple, safe and effective device for the protection of health care workers from exposure to contaminated needles and other sharp objects, immediately after use and prior to disposal.